I was saying that [name] had barriers to employment: Mental illness; fairly significant challenges in terms of work; long term unemployed – these are the limitations that [the employee] had.
We teamed up with another GROW signatory called Encompass Community Services – that we recruited [the employee] through, and they also provided us with support in being able to help [the employee] identify when things are coming up. They helped us to identify when things might be getting difficult for [employee] – helping us to identify when things might be getting difficult for [them] giving [them] time off to cope with that.
Also to give [employee] meaningful work – something [they] can be proud of doing.
…
I suppose we should talk about the fact that … it hasn’t been easy – we have had a few episodes with [employee] not turning up to work – or leaving and being absent for a few days.
But we start with coping, being understanding and be flexible when we knew [employee] was going through a hard time – and make [them] aware and feel comfortable that, you know, we understood and that there was a job there for [them] – to come back when [they were] ready.
And I think that’s built trust and confidence for [employee], and when things have gone wrong, [employee] has always come back .. we have made [them] feel really welcome, comfortable and that [the] job’s not at risk …. and things will be okay.
What is a Most Significant Change story?
The Most Significant Change (MSC) technique is a form of monitoring and evaluation that involves the collection of significant change stories across the GROW collective. This MSC story was collected as part of the GROW Review, where a total of 35 stories were collected. Participants at a Summit Workshop in February 2019 were asked to select the story that had the most significant for them. This story was selected by participants at the Summit workshop because:
‘It highlights the importance of GROW as the connector in this collective impact initiative.’
